My Career as a Mover

As our basement nears completion, we have been busy moving things around. Both kids and furniture. The three boys are safely tucked away in their new rooms in the basement and waiting for us to find dressers to hold their clothes. Carter and McKay are now in the twin beds that were Damon and Allie's in Jacksonville, then Allie and Kyla's when we moved in here. We got a new full bed for Damon at Downeast (he had to have a small headboard, because the only place to put his bed in his new room is right under the window). Fortunately for us, Downeast was having a sale--30% off their clearance prices--and we scored two Pottery Barn beds for quite cheap. However, there was no furniture to match Damon's bed (it's a dark espresso color), so he is without a dresser for the time being.

We are also searching for a dresser for the little boys, but have yet to find anything. So the boys clothes are tucked away in their closets for now. But they are moved in and door handles have been installed. Thank goodness, because the first night we move the boys down without one was miserable. I was up and down the stairs (all four flights) at least 5 times. It was quite the quad workout, and not one I was expecting in the wee hours of the morning. Now that we can lock them in, things are much better.

We also moved the girls into their own rooms upstairs. They do not do well together at night (they stay up late, play, change their clothes and do all kinds of tumbling tricks on their bed) and so we decided to separate them. Kyla is taking Damon's old room and bedroom furniture while we got Allie her own set (at Downeast) for her room. Pics to come when we get completely settled.

We also cleaned out the guest room (I vacuumed up a few more quail feathers when we moved the bed, aka the Scene of the Crime) and found a nice bedroom set for that room. On Friday, Jeff went to Downeast to pick up the furniture. There were two beds and three dressers to unload. We started by unloading the headboard for the guest room. When we opened the box, it was only half a headboard, which was a little strange, because we didn't know Pottery Barn headboards came in two pieces. We carried it upstairs and somehow there was a miscommunication about where we were going to put it. And it slipped out of my hand. AND it broke. One piece broke completely off and the headboard split right down the middle.

It was an awful moment. I could quickly tell that there would be no easy fix for this one. And while Jeff stormed out, trying his best not to get mad at me, I started to cry. What else could I do? I knew it had been quite an expensive mistake.

After a few minutes, Jeff came back in and asked me to help him unload the rest. We managed to get Allie's dresser upstairs and the dressers for the guest room in the house (those things are heavy!). Then Jeff went back to Downeast to pick up Allie's bed (there wasn't room for it in the truck). He also took the headboard back. He was convinced that they had given us a faulty piece of furniture (and only one half of the headboard at that!) and that it was possibly already broken before we got to it.

Half an hour later, he came back. And he told me, "it was a $400 mistake." My stomach dropped. And then he smiled, "Just kidding!"

He then went on to tell me that the workers at Downeast had never heard of only half a headboard being shipped. When Jeff described what had happened, they asked where it was. He said, "it's in the cab of my truck." The associate laughed. "It should not fit in the cab of your truck!"

Fortunately for us, they ordered another set (a REAL set this time, we hope) and it will be here sometime this week. And my terrible night got a whole lot better.

Later, as I struggled to move other pieces of furniture, Jeff said, "you're really not a good mover."

And that hurt my feelings not at all. Because that's like telling me I'm not a good mechanic. Or I'm not a good computer programmer. I have no desire to be a good mover. In fact, my life is better when someone else does the moving for me.